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The Imperial Dungeons
The First Dungeons The Imperial Dungeons are a complex beneath the Imperial Palace. The exact origin of the dungeons is unknown, although it is presumed that when the Palace was first built by Basarab V, some kind of subterranean structures were built. The first record of a location below the Palace is an ancient poem written for a ceremony during which Basarab V had his father and predecessor, Basarab IV, entombed beneath the Palace. There are various other records of jail cells, storage rooms and further crypts being added. The Mad Emperor The dungeons did not truly become well known until the reign of Basarab IX, the Mad Emperor. Basarab imprisoned his subjects in profuse numbers. Far too many prisoners were taken to be kept within the Palace, even in the most squalid conditions, and dark rumours soon began to leak out. Some said Basarab slaughtered his prisoners en masse in bizarre magical devices. Others said he had created a twisted gauntlet beneath the Palace and that prisoners were set free to wander in it, while Basarab and his depraved courtiers watched them be slowly picked off by fiendish traps and diabolical monsters. Still others whispered of an army of corpses, or a secret shrine to Malik Nous, or even that Basarab had connected the Palace's dungeons to some preexisting cave network with any number of sinister denizens. There were even those who believed that the dungeon complex had entrances outside the Imperial Palace, and that Basarab's minions - human and otherwise - would emerge into the city of Othery in the dead of night to spirit away its innocent occupants to a mysterious fate in the bowels of the Palace. When Basarab IX finally passed, his successor, Basarab X, sent a group of swordsmen into the dungeons to see if the rumours were true. What these swordsmen found has passed unrecorded, but what is known is that Basarab X ordered a great pair of iron doors forged and set across the dungeon entrance, with the intent of preventing anybody from venturing within the dungeons ever again... or perhaps, to prevent anything from venturing out? Rediscovery Two hundred years have passed since that day, and Othery has endured a succession crisis, war, and then the end of the Silent Empire. The Mad Emperor and his dungeons were relegated to idle tavern talk and the warnings of mothers with naughty children. That, is until the forty-ninth year after the Treaty of Accord, when a petty thief named Kevin the Vile, on the run from his creditors, hid in an abandoned building near the shadow of the Imperial Palace's outer wall and fell through a rotten floor into an ancient stone chamber. Exploring the corridors, Kevin quickly realised what he had found - another entrance to the Imperial Dungeons. Making his way back to the surface, Kevin went to his friend Ursula, a tavern keeper with shady connections. Seeing a business opportunity, Ursula kept the news secret, paying off Kevin to keep his mouth shut, and purchased the abandoned building. She spent the next year fitting out the building as a new tavern named the Six Dragons Inn, whose grand opening was announced to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Accord. Ursula's tavern includes an entrance to the Imperial Dungeons, which she promised to open up to any brave adventurer who pays a small fee. Since Ursula's announcement, the Imperial Dungeons have once again become the talk of the town. Many groups of hardy and daring adventurers have gathered, ready to plunge into the perilous depths as soon as Ursula opens her doors. Some are motivated by a search for the wealth Basarab is rumoured to have stored beneath the Palace. Others want to retrieve artifacts of historical, arcane or divine provenance stockpiled below. Still others want to find out what it is that the Mad Emperor truly did beneath the Palace and lift the veil on a dark and shadowy chapter of Othery's history. But whatever their motivation, the Dungeons of the Mad Emperor hold the promise of great reward for those brave enough to venture within them... and danger as great as the reward. Dungeon Divers The dungeons were opened up on the 28th Day of the Tenth Month of the year 50 After the Treaty. The first explorers to enter were Chaotic Solutions Inc, and the first adventurer to perish was Morty Ratsbane, a Marlian Halfling soldier. Since then, numerous groups of explorers have entered the dungeons, with mixed results. The following well known groups of dungeon divers have been exploring the dungeon with varying results. Chaotic Solutions Inc (first to enter the dungeons, first casualty) The Guild of Light The Grey Circle The Clever Lads The Black Bastards Known Locations * Level 1 - the Imperial Dungeons ** The Hall of Blades, The Lightning Chapel, The Hall of Spears, The Nightmare Room * Level 2 - the Lower Dungeons ** The Stone Graveyard, The Feeding Room, The Elephant's Graveyard, The Blood Gate * Level 3 - the Imperial Crypts